How MityLite Reduced 60% of Their Box Inventory

In 2008, MityLite carried 45 different box sizes. This is the story of how we helped them eliminate 60% of their corrugated cardboard inventory and improve their lead times, all while still allowing them to use as many box sizes as they want.

But before we get into that, here’s a quick company profile: MityLite is based out of Orem, Utah and is a manufacturer of event-based furniture (you know, folding chairs, conference tables, and the like). They were founded in 1987, and have been a dominant player in their market because of the durability and professional design of their products.

When the economy went into a recession in 2008, MityLite started looking for ways to improve their supply chain. With customers waiting for up to 12 weeks for their furniture in the busy season, the company knew it needed to improve its process in order to continue to thrive. They decided that one of the biggest actions that needed to be taken was that a single piece flow process needed to be implemented.

For the uninitiated, a single piece flow is a supply chain approach where products go through the factory processes one at a time rather than in batches. Basically, when a company produces products in batches, a bottleneck is created by having products wait for an entire batch to complete a process before moving on to the next process. By having “batches” of one, a company can eliminate the bottleneck and move products quicker.

The amount of space, planning, and money required to keep 45 box sizes in stock at once is hard enough…

One such bottleneck that needed to be eliminated in order to create a single piece flow was packaging and inventory. Like we mentioned at the beginning of this post, MityLite was carrying 45 different box sizes. But the problems went even further than that.

In a recent PackWorld.com article, MityLite COO Brian Bowers talks about how under the box-supplier agreement, they were only allowed to run a certain number of cases per day. “…we were committed to holding ‘x’ number of boxes on our shelves,” explains Bowers. “This required tremendous manufacturer/supplier coordination.”

The amount of space, planning, and money required to keep 45 box sizes in stock at once is hard enough. Imagine attempting to do it while being obligated to keep a set number of each box size on the shelves!

Once MityLite implemented Packsize’s On Demand Packaging in 2010, everything changed. Instead of carrying 45 box sizes, MityLite can create any box they’d like the moment they need it. The amount of space dedicated to corrugated cardboard was reduced, and their packaging needs were simplified.

“Certainly the Packsize implementation was an important component in our overall operations strategy, and continues to support our advancements toward one-piece work flow,” says Bowers.

If you’d like to learn more about MityLite and Packsize, download our case study highlighting them by clicking here:

You can also watch this nifty YouTube video we produced that highlights how MityLite is using On Demand Packaging® today: